As requested, here is an audio recording of my talk from yesterday titled “Successfully Starting A Business On A Shoestring”.

You can click play below and listen to it in your browser if you’d like. However, it’s about 45 minutes long so if it’s more convenient, feel to right click the “download” link below and download it to your hard drive. That way you can put it on your mp3 player or listen to it in your car while you’re driving.

The talk was interesting because I did a few things differently. For one thing I did not rehearse at all, and spoke for 45 minutes with no notes or slides whatsoever. I decided to do this after reading this post on the 37Signals blog last week, and I think it worked out well. Some people may prefer the organized structure of slides, but I felt this talk was more personal and had more emotion in it since I was just telling stories and speaking from the heart.

I remember reading one time that Rudy Giuliani learned to be a good public speaker this way. When he stopped memorizing notes and just went in and told stories from the heart, he was able to relax and connect with audiences. Donald Trump does this also. Even though his speaking fee is a quarter million, he will just jott down a few bullets on the car ride over and say what comes to him.

Come to think of it, when I saw David Brooks, the 1990 world champion of public speaking, all he did was tell stories too. I’m sure he rehearsed but story telling is certainly powerful. He had the audience roaring with laughter one moment, and sobbing the next…just from telling stories.

I’ll have to practice doing more of it at my next talk. Hope you enjoy it!

Oh yeah, and feel free to give the MP3 away or send it to anyone who you think might enjoy it.

 

 Successfully Starting Your Business On A Shoestring [46:12m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download